12 Days Of Christmas
by romannumeralsIV
Summary: Merlin gets punched by the captain of the football team, Arthur Pendragon and can't seem to forget him, as things get more complicated he wonders of it's all worth it... Modern school AU, T for later chapters. Structure based on song '12 Days of Christmas'. Slash.
1. Chapter 1

**On The First Day Of Christmas**

* * *

DAY ONE:

On the first day Arthur gave him a punch.

Merlin was walking through the park on his way back from school. His backpack was leaden with the heavy textbooks of a Monday afternoon and he was dragging his feet through the thin layer of snow already starting to cover the ground in preparation for Christmas just twenty-five days away.

He hadn't had the best of days but he tried to keep his spirits up despite the cold, dreaming of the warm mug of hot chocolate awaiting him back at his Uncle Gaius'.

He was trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue going cross-eyed in the process when he noticed a group of boys from about year 13, his year, across the park on the side he was walking towards.

He stopped in the snow and squinted through the flurry of snowflakes to distinguish who the boys were. His heart sank as he realised it was Arthur Pendragon and his fellow teammates from the 'Camelot Knights' their school's football squad and local heroes.

Merlin couldn't be sure but from this distance it looked as if they were picking on a smaller boy of about eleven years.

Merlin suddenly felt his temper flare up inside of him as he watched Arthur push the boy into the snow and he couldn't help himself as he stormed over to the bullies his brain not registering how bad his odds were looking. Five strong, well-built football players against scrawny Merlin, it wasn't great.

But Merlin had hated the arrogant, smart-arsed footballers for a long time, especially their captain Arthur daddy's-boy Pendragon and, well, he wasn't in the best of moods.

'Hey, you!' called Merlin angrily at the blonde who, Merlin hated to admit it, looked like a model from a winter catalogue with his hair in the perfect just-got-out-of-bed ruffle, his tanned skin shining against the white of the snow and the snowflakes making his hair look peppered with fairy-dust rather than the dandruff-covered look Merlin was sporting.

'What do you think you're doing?'

Arthur raised an eyebrow staring appraisingly at Merlin with an expression of contempt.

Merlin wanted to punch that smug idiot right in the face.

'Leave him alone,' Merlin pushed on, his anger driving him on even as the team sniggered to each other.

The boy took advantage of his bullies distraction to make a speedy getaway, stumbling over his bag and shoes in his haste to escape to the sound of the boys laughter.

'Or what?' asked Arthur with an arrogant laugh.

'Or I'll punch you in the face,' voiced Merlin, expressing more confidence than he felt.

'Arthur I think he means it,' said a sleek-haired handsome boy with deep brown eyes, smiling at Merlin's adamant expression.

Arthur just laughed along with the other boys.

'I'd like to see him try, Gwaine,' said Arthur patronisingly. Gwaine continued smiling at Merlin as if they were sharing a private joke.

But Gwaine's casual, joking tone failed to quell Merlin's anger and only succeeded in increasing it. He lashed out at Arthur with his fist.

Arthur's expression went dark and the laughter drained from his face as he easily intercepted the punch.

'You will be sorry you did that,' Arthur threatened.

Merlin just grinned and attempted to punch him again.

Again Arthur intercepted.

'Stop it or I will hurt you and you won't like it,' Arthur warned again but Merlin's face remained in a fixed come-at-me-bro expression and he drove his fist once more into the palm of Arthur's hand.

Arthur shook his head disbelievingly.

'You don't give up, do you?'

Merlin shook his head in response, trying and failing again to get a hit on Arthur.

'Who do you think you are, you arrogant prat,' stormed Merlin with a flurry of attempted punches.

'The Captain of the football team and declared 'King of Camelot High',' said Arthur smugly.

'Self-declared 'King', you overgrown pompous good-for nothing _prat_, who only gets his way because of his daddy,' spat Merlin.

Arthur narrowed his eyes and finally retaliated, his much faster and much stronger punch going into the side of Merlin's nose. Instantly blood spurted everywhere as Merlin's nose-bleed prone nose grew bloody.

Tears automatically welled up in Merlin's eyes, the pain shooting through his face, but he blinked them away, along with the memories that flooded into his mind of similar pain.

'Shit,' said Arthur, actual concern in his voice. Concern that his perfect reputation was going to be ruined thought Merlin coldly.

'Arthur, mate, I think you might have gone a bit far,' spoke a blonde-haired one of Arthur's friends.

'I didn't mean to make him bleed, Leon. Shit,' repeated Arthur, his face pained.

'Are you alright?' said another of Arthur's friends, someone finally actually showing some concern.

'Ob course I'b bloody nob alrigh',' said Merlin heavily through the bleeding.

'I have some tissues?' offered the same friend helpfully but Merlin shook his head, spraying blood as he did so.

Arthur was staring horror-struck at Merlin's gushing nose. What had he expected to happen?

'I'b all bight,' said Merlin, defiant.

'You're a right idiot, Arthur,' said the friend smiling sympathetically at Merlin.

'I know, Lance,' Arthur surprised Merlin by saying quietly.

He sniffed and, giving a final glare to his attacker, walked determinedly home, leaving a violent trail of red on the white powder underfoot, a constant torrent of abuse circulating in his head about Arthur. The prick. Who did he think he was, bullying kids, he was twice their size and scary enough without his band of clowns following him?

He turned back to the gang of footballers most of whom it seemed had forgotten anything had happened and were joking around with each other.

Only the one called Lance was looking at Merlin, an apology in his expression.

As Merlin turned his head to leave he saw Arthur look back at him, his face unfathomable. They stared at each other. Blue eyes on blue and despite the situation Merlin was still able to marvel at how Arthur looked in the winter air, the chill making his cheeks flush and his tanned skin standing out against the blue.

Then he blushed with the absurdity of his thoughts and broke the staring contest, turning round and all but flouncing away.

* * *

**First Merlin fic publish attempt :/ Hope you like it. The next chapter will be more lighthearted and it's meant to be Christmas-themed but it's not very Christmassy... yet. :) The chapters will probably get longer this is just more of a prologue. x**


	2. Chapter 2

DAY TWO

On the second day Arthur gave him an apology.

Merlin was sitting at a picnic table in the playground wrapped up in a thick parka, woolly scarf, bobble hat and gloves and he still managed to be cold.

His friends were all huddled together around the table but Merlin was shivering the most, his frail skin unable to take what felt like sub-zero temperatures.

'Merlin I think we're going to have to start eating inside, mate,' grinned Will, 'it won't be just your cheek that's blue if we continue our lunches al fresco.' He was referring to the brilliant purple and blue bruise that had blossomed on Merlin's cheekbone as a result of Arthur's punch.

A punch that Merlin hadn't told his friends about. For some reason, he just didn't want them to know. Maybe it was because he was embarrassed, maybe it wss something else, but for whatever reason he had decided to tell them that he had tripped.

'Merlin, I agree with Will for once,' said Morgana, 'you honestly need a warm fireplace and a barrel of hot chocolate.'

Merlin smiled at the thought.

'I'm fine, guys; we can't break a tradition, right?' Merlin smiled at them, persevering.

Throughout all their years in the school the group of friends, Will, Morgana, Gwen, Freya and Merlin had never once eaten in the school 'allocated dining area'. It had started as a pure hatred of the crumb-covered, loud and garish dining hall that would leave any visitor with feet covered in mashed potato, mashed peas, or mashed _anything_ without fail. It had grown into a tradition that the group still clung onto even after seven years at the school.

'If you say so,' said Gwen, doubt in her voice.

She suddenly stopped looking at Merlin and focused her attention behind his head at a group of boys emerging from the dining hall. She sighed.

Merlin craned his head round to see what Gwen was staring dreamily at and then groaned.

It was Arthur and co. and they were heading straight for the table.

'Why are they coming over here?' said Morgana stonily.

'Oh my god, they're coming over,' squealed Gwen.

'Oh yeah, I forgot you had a crush on the football team. Typical,' said Will.

'Shut up,' blushed Gwen as they drew closer.

Merlin caught the eye of the one called Lance and abruptly turned away from his smiling figure.

'Shit,' he sighed and his friends looked at him curiously, but before they could ask him anything the band of boys had reached the table.

'Hello, ladies,' grinned Gwaine looking at Freya, Morgana and Gwen.

Freya and Gwen blushed even deeper whereas Morgana's deathly scowl made Merlin snort into his tuna sandwich.

Lancelot rolled his eyes at Gwaine.

'Merlin, that's your name right?' said Lance tentatively but with kindness, addressing Merlin.

'Yeah?' replied Merlin a little more coldly than he intended.

'We just wanted to say sorry for yesterday, it was really awful and unnecessary and… well… sorry,' he finished smiling hopefully at Merlin as if he really wanted his forgiveness.

'Oh, um, yeah, that's fine… I guess,' said Merlin, unsure whether this was a joke or not. Why would the school football team come and personally apologise to him? They were all dicks, weren't they?

'And Arthur wants to...' he trailed off as he looked round for Arthur who was huddled at the back, his jaw clenched as if it was the last thing on earth he wanted to be doing.

'Arthur wants to apologise,' Lance finished, pulling Arthur forward.

'I don't want to,' said Arthur angrily.

'Go on Arthur, mate. What harm's it gonna do?' said Lance.

'It's gonna harm my reputation, I don't have to apologise to a fucking fag,' spat Arthur, causing Merlin's friend's expressions to change from one of confusion to anger for their friend.

'You dick,' said Freya.

Lance looked worried, obviously this wasn't going the way he'd planned.

'Arthur, you don't mean that, say sorry,' Lance ordered and to Merlin's surprise Arthur obeyed.

'I'm, yeah… sorry,' said Arthur reluctantly and immediately stalked off, shooting death glares at Lance who had clearly roped him into it.

'So you should be,' shouted Morgana at Arthur's back.

Arthur's friends just grinned as if it was all a big laugh and Merlin almost wanted to join in with their hidden laughter as he thought of the ridiculousness of the situation but Lancelot's sincere and genuinely anxious for Merlin's wellbeing expression stopped him.

'I hope you're alright, Merlin. I'm sorry for Arthur, he's really not as bad as he seems.' Lance smiled again, strangely anxious to make sure Merlin didn't get the wrong impression of Arthur.

Merlin just raised his eyebrow.

'Will, Morgana, Freya, Gwen,' Lance nodded to them before leaving with the rest of his friends. They walked across the grounds, talking and laughing normally.

They all stared at each other for a while.

'What just happened?' Will spoke first.

'That dick,' added Morgana, not needing to specify who she was talking about.

They all nodded their agreement.

'He knows my name,' beamed Gwen and everyone turned to look at her before breaking into laughter. She coloured red again but her smile still remained firmly fixed on her face.

The bell rang at the end of lunch and Merlin said reluctant goodbyes to his friends before walking towards History class alone. He loved History as a subject, the old legends and myths mostly, but it was made far less enjoyable by the fact that none of his friends took it although he definitely learnt more without Will's hilarious commentary and Gwen's gossiping.

He pushed open the door to find most of the class already seated and apologised profusely to the teacher. Mrs James just smiled and nodded at Merlin's lateness as he sat down- the perks of being a perfect student- and continued with her lesson.

They were writing notes on the Cold War when the door opened again but this time with a loud bang as it crashed into the shelf of textbooks in the corner.

Behind the door was a completely unflustered Arthur Pendragon. He strolled into the classroom casually as if he were perfectly entitled to arrive twenty minutes late to a lesson.

…A lesson that he didn't take. Why was he here?

'Ah, Arthur Pendragon, right?' said Mrs James a subtle hint of mockery in her voice which made Merlin smile to himself.

'Of course,' he said, his eyes raking the room. Merlin could swear he saw Arthur flinch as he momentarily locked eyes with Merlin but it was only for a fraction of a second before Arthur caught the eye of Valiant and Cenred, a couple of moronic footballers, and smiled confidently.

'Would you like to explain why you are so late to your _first_ lesson?' asked Mrs James, her tone stern.

'Things to do, people to see,' replied Arthur precociously.

Mrs James' eyes narrowed. Merlin smirked to himself, Arthur was going to get a good beating now. There was nothing quite like a telling-off from Mrs James' sharp tongue.

But to Merlin's surprise his favourite teacher just bit her lip and coldly indicated for Arthur to sit down.

Arthur grinned at his mates and strode over to them, flashing a smug smile at the rest of the class. Prat.

Merlin thought he actually heard some of the girls gasp as Arthur smiled. Really? It wasn't like Arthur was a celebrity. But watching Arthur as he sat down Merlin noticed that he should be. The cocky smile, the enviably perfect golden bed-head hair, the clear blue eyes. Merlin instantly silenced the thought.

From this position in the class Merlin had a perfect view of Arthur through a perfect gap between two heads.

Arthur began to get out his books and pens unaware of Merlin's stare, or maybe he just didn't want to look at him. He stared at the teacher, focusing on the lesson.

Right, thought Merlin, focus.

But he couldn't take his eyes off Arthur. He watched him as he chewed his pen, his brows furrowing as Miss James tried to explain Mutually Assured Destruction. Idiot thought Merlin smugly before berating himself for being so mean and childish. It's not like he hadn't been punched before. Hell, when he was fourteen he had been bullied all the time by arrogant homophobic footballers, it wasn't a new concept for him. He'd learnt to forgive and forget, but he just couldn't seem to forget this punch, this one punch given by and egotistical, arrogant, self-absorbed, idiotic stupid son-of-a-bi-

'Merlin?' the worried tones of the teacher reached through Merlin's haze of anger and he turned his attention to the teacher and answered her question. Then he was free to glare angrily at Arthur again.

Arthur glanced up at the sound of Merlin's voice for the first time since he came in to see Merlin staring at him fiercely.

Merlin could see the discomfort on his face as he saw Merlin's ferocious glare but he held Merlin's accusing stare and hesitantly tried a smile.

And Merlin found himself smiling back, he couldn't help himself, his anger was pushed to the back of his mind and he returned Arthur's smile tentatively. He felt a tingle go down his spine and a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach as if heated by Arthur's smile. His fucking gorgeous smile.

What was wrong with him?

* * *

**And it's still not Christmassy :/ but I might throw in some tinsel next chapter and maybe some of Arthur's POV?**

**Note: the days aren't always going to be consecutive. I decided to cheat a little :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**On The Second Day Of Christmas**

* * *

DAY THREE:

On the third day Arthur gave Merlin something to think about.

'Oh my god, he's perfect,' breathed Gwen dreamily as they all huddled together around the radiator of the sixth form common room.

'Sounds like he's great,' smiled Merlin at Gwen's happy face.

Since last week Lance, Gwaine, Leon and Percy had started talking to them. It had started off as a smile in the hallway, a 'hi' at lunch and had rapidly escalated into friendship.

Much to the surprise of many of the other kids in school the football stars started to sit with the not-so-cool table at lunch. They started to laugh and chat in lessons and take the piss out of each other and be generally nice to each other.

Much to Merlin's surprise he found himself actually quite liking the four friends. Gwaine always managed to cheer him up with his not always quite acceptable humour. He took the complete piss out of Percy who in turn played the worst practical jokes on Gwaine. On Monday Gwaine had insulted his new haircut (what are friends for?) and had found himself the next day trying to stop the rumour that his hair was so thick because he had had hair transplants from his more 'private areas'.

Leon and Lance were much more calm than the rogue Percy and Gwaine but they were still warm, friendly and genuine, something Merlin hadn't expected.

Lance had been especially friendly to one of Merlin's friend's and Gwen was almost completely smitten with him.

'He's got such an amazing smile, it's so warm and kind, and he's _so_ noble, he always tries to make me feel comfortable. He gave me his coat yesterday when I just slightly _hinted_ that I was cold,' she squealed happily earning an eye-roll from Will.

'Dreamy,' he said earning sharp glances from his friends and a blush from Gwen.

'Sorry,' she said apologetically.

'Don't be, Gwen, Will's just jealous that nobody from the football team has come to whisk him off his feet,' teased Morgana, pushing her own cynicism aside: she would fight for Gwen to the death.

Gwen giggled and it was Will's turn to blush.

'Am not.'

'Are too.'

'Am not.'

'Are too,'

And from there it descended into the murky depths of argument standards, 'are too' and 'am not's passing back and forth between the group of friends culminating in a tickling frenzy which ended with Will begging for mercy and pleading 'I'm jealous, I'm jealous, please just let me go!' as Morgana, Freya and Merlin tickled him viciously.

They eventually relinquished and they all sat back against the hot radiator, laughing their heads off at Will's stubbornly angry face which eventually softened and joined in with their laughter.

* * *

Merlin walked back from school. Smiling at the memory of Gwaine chasing a poor girl in the year below around the tinsel-covered school hall with a massive bunch of mistletoe and shouting about how it was bad luck not to kiss under it.

Merlin had been concerned for the girl but had quickly gone into hysterics when it turned out Angel, as he later discovered she was called, was more than able to fend for herself. She had triumphantly grabbed a hold of a microphone stand in the corner and prodded Gwaine with it causing him to fall back into the arms of Mr Coulby, the stern head of Classics, mistletoe in hand.

Only Gwaine would leave that situation with the girl's number.

Merlin dragged his feet through the thick layer of snow in the park. It had been a week since he had walked back this way and the thin coating of powdery snow had turned into a heavy bulk of white, making it hard to get through.

He had his earphones in and was oblivious to the world around him when someone tapped his shoulder.

He spun round, surprised by the sudden touch, but what he intended to be a graceful pirouette ended with him falling into the snow.

He looked up to see the face of Arthur Pendragon. Why had he suddenly started appearing in places where Merlin was?

He took his earphones out to the sounds of Arthur snorting and Merlin realised that his not too elegant fall had been accompanied by a high-pitched squeal making him blush.

'S'not funny,' he grumbled, taking the hand extended to him.

Arthur just smiled at him. His perfect gleaming smile and in that moment he could see why girls fell at his feet. It wasn't the hesitant smile he had given in History. No, this smile made you feel like you were the only person in the world, like you could just gaze into each other's eyes forever, like…

'Merlin?' Arthur's voice pulled him back to Earth and he realised he had just been staring at Arthur for the last ten seconds.

Keep cool, Merlin.

'Have you hit your head?' asked Arthur, concerned.

'No,' said Merlin stubbornly.

You will not think about Arthur's smile, you will not think about Arthur's smile, you will not-

'Good,' Arthur smiled again and Merlin melted, smiling back warmly.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, Arthur awkwardly shuffling about as Merlin waited for him to say something.

'Look, Merlin…' Arthur started to say hesitantly.

'ARTHUR!' came the unmistakable boom of Gwaine and they both turned to see the grinning brunette charging his way through the snow, showering children with it.

'Hey, Merlin,' he said in surprise when he finally reached them and looked between the two with curiosity.

'Is he bothering you?' Gwaine grinned and punched Arthur who scowled, his friendliness evaporating.

'No more than usual,'

'Arthur, keep away from Merlin,' mock scolded Gwaine.

Arthur's reaction was a bit excessive.

'Don't tell me what to do, Gwaine. I can hang out with who I want, even if their bloody gays,'

Merlin was a little shocked and stared in surprise at Arthur's abrupt mood swing. But Gwaine rolled his eyes.

'I'll sort him out,' laughed Gwaine as he grabbed Arthur into a headlock and started ruffling his hair.

Merlin and Gwaine just laughed but Arthur suddenly growled and pulled Gwaine over his back, flipping him into the snow with a thud, shaking the ground.

Merlin stared at Arthur in shock. What was he doing?

There were a few seconds of complete silence apart from the panting of Arthur until he looked up.

The anger drained from Arthur's face as he registered Merlin's expression.

Without a word he ran off across the park, managing to move surprising fast across the snow, unlike Gwaine's ungainly lurching.

Merlin watched Arthur go, still reeling from the boy's outburst.

'That kid is mental,' said Gwaine from the snow, still maintaining his grin.

'Are you alright?'

'I've had worse,' grimaced Gwaine.

Merlin offered his hand to try and pull Gwaine up out of the cold but the weight of the muscular footballer was too much for him to take and he ended up falling in the snow with a thud.

They both laughed and Gwaine got up before pulling Merlin up.

'Pay no attention to Arthur, he's an idiot and he doesn't know what he's doing,' said Gwaine strangely. Shouldn't Merlin be consoling him?

'Honestly, Gwaine, I don't give a damn,' replied Merlin.

'Good. Let's go get a coffee,' smiled Gwaine, incident already forgotten.

Merlin nodded happily and followed Gwaine out of the park. He glanced back to where Arthur had left and he could swear he could see a blonde figure standing by the gate, watching them. But Gwaine pulled him away and started talking about how fit Angel was, causing Merlin to roll his eyes and laugh and he soon forgot about the lone figure.

But even as they laughed and drank hazelnut lattes together, Merlin couldn't seem to forget the incident as easily as Gwaine. Didn't the other boy find it weird? Or was beating up people just a daily occurrence for Arthur? And what Merlin found the most strange was that he didn't feel angered, or repulsed or even indifferent.

Merlin felt a strange desire to know as much as he could about Arthur Pendragon.


End file.
